A Man of the Soil: OSU Soil Science Professor Receives National Honor
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu
Raised on the sprawling campus of Visayas State University on the island of Leyte in the central Philippines, Sergio Abit grew up visiting his father’s university office and an occasional lecture hall, always surrounded by intellectual curiosity.
Now a faculty member in the Oklahoma State University Ferguson College of Agriculture, Abit is known among his students for his entertaining teaching style, which developed from his early life influences of being surrounded by outstanding educators, he said.
“I grew up in a household of teachers,” said Abit, professor in the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. “My father was a professor of agronomy and taught for 36 years. My mother was an elementary school teacher, and she later became the librarian ofthe university.
“I essentially grew up in a school,” he added. “The first 20 years of my life were inside a university.”
In addition to familial influences, impactful teachers at the agricultural sciences high school he attended played an instrumental role in inspiring his path to become an educator, Abit said.
“I had a high school physics teacher who perfected ‘edutainment’ — education and entertainment — when it was not a thing yet,” Abit said. “He was an ‘edutainer.’ How else do you sell physics to a 14-year-old?”
While attending VSU later on, Abit found his way to soil science after discovering a soil physics course, he said. This course combined his interests of physics with agriculture and natural resources, he added.
“The thing that cemented my decision to pursue soil physics was learning back then there was only one soil physicist for 98 million Filipinos,” Abit said. “I thought there was really a need for someone to do this.”
After earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, Abit found an opening for a soil science faculty position at OSU, a position he said does not come available often.
“When I interviewed at OSU, I just clicked with the faculty members,” Abit said. “It’s a small enough program that everyone needs to collaborate. It’s just part of the culture here. It may be cliché, but that feeling that we’re all in this together appeals to me.”
Now in his 13th year as a faculty member at OSU, Abit has developed four new courses for the plant and soil sciences program.
“Environmental soil sciences had not been taught for about eight years when I got here, so I thought, ‘Why not revive that?’” Abit said. “That’s also why I developed a soils and society course. At some point in your career, you want to be challenged again.”
Abit constantly challenges himself to evolve his courses and teach beyond what is traditionally expected, he said.
Abit cites former NFL Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis — “They pay me Monday through Saturday, but Sundays are free” — to describe the feeling of helping students develop, harness, and apply their interests in and out of the classroom.
For his work in the classroom, Abit received a Regional U.S. Department of Agriculture Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences Award.
Recipients are not selected based on teaching longevity, but rather on recognizing “the quality of recent achievements involving teaching philosophy, methodology and self-assessment aimed at improvement,” according to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.
“When I’m in the classroom teaching, Dr. Pepper in hand of course, it doesn’t feel like a job,” Abit said. “That’s really the fun part. “It’s the interaction with students and being able to impart what you’ve learned to others,” he added. “I get a thrill out of that.”
After 24 semesters of teaching at OSU, many of Abit’s former students have become leaders or educators of soil science in their own right.
“I took Dr. Abit’s Fundamentals of Soil Science class to see if plant and soil sciences could be something I enjoyed,” said Lauren Selph, who is now a plant and soil sciences instructor at West Texas A&M University. “That semester I changed my major to plant and soil sciences.”
After graduating in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree, Selph continued her education, earning a master’s degree from Tarleton State University and a doctoral degree from Texas Tech University. She draws inspiration from her time in Abit’s classroom, she said.
Known for his infectious enthusiasm and often unconventional teaching methods, Abit has a passion for soil science that is understandable by any student who sits in his classroom, Selph said.
“Dr. Abit’s teaching style is very unique,” said Tyler Steichen, plant and soil science master’s student. “I love listening to him teach. He always keeps me engaged and motivated.
“Dr. Abit puts the students first,” Steichen added. “He’s not there to make you struggle. He’s there to make you understand and have fun while you do it.”
Students remember more than Abit’s extensive knowledge of plant and soil science. They recall his passion, quirks and the way he makes learning an adventure, Steichen said.
After graduation, students remember Abit as the professor who made their passion for soil science grow in ways they never expected, Selph said.
“He taught me that you can be excited and be quirky and still learn science,” Selph said. “Those are things I try to incorporate into the soil science classes I now teach.
“He is the reason I’m a soil scientist,” Selph added. “Dr. Abit’s enthusiasm has transferred throughout my entire career.”
Story by Katelyn Moore | Cowboy Journal